Hallo, cherished viewers, and welcome to this week’s edition of Good People, Good Works highlighting the story of six-year old Dmitri (or Dmi for short) Rosescu of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He began a fund-raising project in the spring of 2011 to help pay for medicines needed by baby Emma Predinchuk of Calgary, Canada prior to her bone marrow transplant as well as her after-care expenses. What prompted Dmitri to initiate this benevolent project? Here is his mother Shannon Rosescu to explain how it started.

I went to a fundraiser for Emma (Predinchuk). And he knew that I was going to raise money for a little girl who was very sick. She was nine months old at the time and needed money to get better, “money for her medicine” was how I explained it.

And a couple of weeks later, he was drawing pictures and trying to sell them to us and the receptionist at the vet clinic, and various other people. When I asked him why he was selling pictures and what he needed money for, he said, “Well, doesn’t baby Emma still need her medicine?” and it snowballed from there.

Dmitri’s two sisters and several neighborhood children have joined him in his noble endeavor. Dmitri sells his pictures for CAD$10 each and is determined to “keep on going until Emma gets better.”

I understand that you have raised around CAD$2,700 for baby Emma who has leukemia and needs a lot of money for after-care. I understand that you raised money by painting pictures. So what kind of pictures did you paint? Octopuses, (a lot of stuff.)

I am sure that the entire Rosescu family has been involved with all of this fundraising, yes? And perhaps we could have the two young ladies say what they have done as well for raising money for the baby.

I am Dmi’s sister Kasia. I’ve been helping Dmi draw and paint pictures. When he started, I started to think, “Maybe I should help along with him.” So I started to draw pictures with him for other people like the Abominable Snowman and I drew this girl in the winter, and then a princess for her birthday.

I am Dmi’s older sister, Julia. I helped draw a few pictures. And me, Kasia and Dmi and a few friends had a lemonade stand which went really well. We had lots of people stop by and just drop off money and people bought lemonade. So we raised lots of money.

That’s excellent. And I understand that money has been pouring in from various corners of North America.

Absolutely. We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve received money all the way from the East Coast, Quebec (Canada), Ontario(Canada) to BC (British Columbia) (Canada) and even North Dakota (USA). So we’re very fortunate; it just seemed to have gone viral with all these pictures.

And people just kept passing along the message. And we’re very grateful to have all these people donating money. And we’re extremely grateful that Emma’s doing great.

Most fortunately Emma got her bone-marrow transplant on August 29, 2011.

When we heard that baby Emma got her transplant, we were happy because when we heard that she was giggling in her dad’s arms, we were like, “Oh, that’s so great!”

I’m sure one of the things that goes through every parent’s mind is that, “Baby Emma could have been our child.” And so Shannon, what is going through your mind and your heart as you watch this whole story unfold?

I am fortunate that I have four healthy children and it’s exactly that. You never know when cancer can strike or any sort of disease or illness. And our family has been hit by cancer. We’ve always had a tremendous support system and we felt that Emma needed our support too.

Dmitri’s leadership skills were noted early on by his former grade one teacher, Ms. Jan Seitz.

It was only a year ago that Dmitri entered grade one. He’s a bright, young, eager, determined and athletic six-year-old. At the very start of the year we would have classroom meetings where students reflected on the kind of classroom they wanted to create. These meetings frequently referenced (Mahatma) Gandhi by asking the students how they could be the change that they want to see in the world, and it could start here in this classroom, and grow throughout the school and community.

They decided that a classroom goal should be that everyone feels included and like they belong. When a hiccup in the pursuit of meeting that goal would occur, we would have meetings either as a whole group, small group or one on one. So Dmi and I had lots of chats along the way. I recall asking him who his heroes were, and he said (hockey star) Sydney Crosby. I asked him to look out at the classroom and tell me what he saw.

Now, at that time there was a boy sitting all alone and nobody was playing with him. He indicated that he noticed that student. Then I asked him, “What would Sydney do as the leader and captain of his hockey team?” And then later, all on his own, Dmi went over to the student, befriended him and included him in play. And along the way, I certainly saw Dmi become a leader.

You have made a world of difference to Emma. What I find interesting is that, from what I understand, making pictures wasn’t even your favorite thing to do. Yet, you found a way to solve a problem and reach a goal born out of a compassionate heart to help Emma, a child he did not even know or had not even met.

Dmi, thank you for teaching us something about hope, about determination and about believing that all things are possible. I am very proud of you, and I know that all of your teachers are very proud of you too. Thanks, Dmitri.

To support his life-saving cause, Supreme Master Ching Hai gifted Dmitri with CAD$5,000, with lots of hugs and kisses. On Supreme Master Ching Hai’s behalf, our Association members presented the funds to Dmitri during a ceremony.

So, right now is our time for a very special presentation. And, so Dmitri, if you could come forward here, I'd like to present this to you. Yes, come and stand right here. Great! And here is Dmitri's check. Congratulations!

Emma Predinchuk’s great aunt, Bonnie Harris attended the ceremony and accepted the check from Dmitri on Emma’s behalf.

On behalf of Emma and her parents, Chris and Anita, and our entire family, we would like to say thank you very much, Dmitri, for all you have done. For someone so young and a complete stranger, to give so much of yourself, through your heart and your drawings you have touched our hearts. When we all needed it so much, you showed up and became Emma’s little guardian angel.

We look forward to you and Emma meeting one day very soon. You’re a very special boy, Dmitri, and have already made a difference in this world. I’m sure your journey in helping others has just begun, and we are very honored you have come into our lives. I would also like to say thank you to One Match, and Emma’s donor.

Without them, Emma’s transplant wouldn’t have been possible. Another complete stranger, Emma’s gift of life came from a 23-year-old young man, a perfect match. A big thank you also to the Alberta Children’s Hospital staff for all their wonderful work, and to everyone that has supported and prayed for Emma.

Thank you, Master Ching Hai, for your wonderful donation and for giving Dmitri the recognition that he greatly deserves. Where we don’t think we’ve had hopes, we’ve found them. We didn’t think that she would even find a bone-marrow match and we just prayed and prayed and she came up with three.

With so many people behind her, loving her and praying for her, our little princess will get her chance to dance, to go to school and to make a mark in this world. Right now Emma, she’s handled everything very well and the doctors are saying everything is looking very well for her. I would just like to say thank you very much to everybody.

Supreme Master Ching Hai provided gifts to Emma and her family, which were presented by our Association members on her behalf. They were given Supreme Master Ching Hai’s books including “The Realization of Health: Returning to the Natural and Righteous Way of Living,” and the #1 international bestsellers “The Noble Wilds,” and “The Birds In My Life” along with a vegan recipe book and one of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s DVDs.

They’ll have a lot of time to be doing a lot of reading to her.

Supreme Master Ching Hai also sent gifts for Dmitri and his family, including her books “The Love of Centuries,” “From Crisis to Peace,” the #1 international bestseller “The Dogs In My Life” and others, as well as a selection of her DVDs.

Just want to say thank you. Thank you very much to your organization and all you wonderful people for everything, and it’s amazing. Dmitri’s biggest supporters have been people that we don’t know. And I think that that’s wonderful because we don’t know Emma. And, you can really build that sense of family and community from people that you’ve never, ever met, and then you feel like you’ve known them your whole lives. And we just want to thank you very much for everything.

Our accolades go to you, Dmitri Rosescu and your family and friends, for your compassionate hearts and noble fundraising efforts for baby Emma. We also pray that baby Emma has a quick recovery and enjoys a long, wonderful life with her family. Thank you, loving viewers, for watching this edition of Good People, Good Works. May kindness and love always be the foundations of people’s lives.